How Carrots Taught Me About the Sovereignty of God, Predestination, and the Mercy of Christ.

Perhaps the most difficult section of Scripture is Romans 9. In it, the Apostle Paul walks us through God’s plan of salvation, ultimately highlighting God’s love, mercy and his sovereignty over our lives. You can easily get twisted into a theological knot as you try to sort out the various topics that Paul touches upon: predestination, election, God’s wrath, and Israel’s place in it all. 

The starkest imagery is in verses 22 and 23:

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

This all stems from Paul’s heartbreak for his people, the Jews, rejecting the savior. He talks about how he wishes all of his kinsmen would come to saving faith in Christ. However, he understands why that’s not the case. He explains that although Israel is God’s chosen people, that doesn’t just give them the free ticket into heaven. He hits on a solid biblical truth - it’s God’s promises and his initiating action that saves us, not anything we do. 

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Verse 16. 

Wow. This is good news. Because if salvation depended on us getting it right - if we had to stick the landing - we’d definitely come up short. God in his mercy  sets forth his plan from the beginning of time to atone for our sins on the cross, and that atonement is effectual for all who have redeeming faith in Christ. This is where the theological rabbit hole can open up. Who are these people that come to Christ? Did they come on their own volition? Did God preordain it? Here in Romans 9, Paul gives an example:

And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

verses 10-13

By virtue of being born first, Esau should have inherited his father’s blessing. But before either he or his younger brother was born, God had already elected Jacob to be the inheritor of the promise. Not because Esau had done anything bad - he hadn’t been born yet - but “in order that God’s purpose of election might continue.”

Does that seem unfair? Paul -addresses this objection

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

verses 14-16

I once had a coworker say he could never believe in a God that sends his friends to hell. We always find a way to make it about us, don’t we? Rather than see how amazing it is that God would provide a way for some of us to escape wrath, we frame it as him being unjust and unloving. But Paul says by no means! Had God not put forth his mercy and compassion, we would ALL be doomed to an eternity separated from Him. The Bible tells us like sheep we have all gone astray and there’s not one who does good. We all fall short of God’s glory, and given the choice, we would choose darkness every time. So without God’s elective purpose, it would depend on “human will or exertion” and given that responsibility - to be the savior of our own soul - we would screw the pooch a million times over. So God made a way when otherwise there was no way. Jesus is a light in the darkness. 

But then why doesn’t God just give us all a mulligan and let everyone into heaven? First, He would have to forfeit his perfect justice, which would make him unrighteous. Second, God is love - in whom there is no variation or shadow - so our presence is fundamentally incompatible with his nature. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? It’s a paradox. Third, if God allowed this, then Jesus died for no reason. But as it is, he did die for a very important reason: to resolve the conflict explained in the second reason above. 

I’m not saying this is easy to swallow. Arguments have been going on for centuries to decide for whom Christ died. But let me ask you this - is God surprised when someone gives their life to Christ? If he were, he would cease to be God because that implies there are aspects of creation outside of his control. But God is not surprised, and so by the very essence of him being God, he purposed it to happen. His “elective purpose” as Paul puts it. 

It’s an interesting dilemma. Which is true: God elects some to eternal life so that our exerted will has nothing to do with it. Or we are responsible for the things we willingly do. The answer is yes. Both are true. As Paul says, 

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

verses 19 and 20

So God molds us a certain way, and yet we are still responsible for our actions. It’s like we have free will and yet we don’t. At the same time. Your head will explode if you try to understand it, but just because it doesn’t make sense to you does not mean it’s not true. We can trust God’s Word because of the incarnate Christ. Actually we can trust it by the nature of it being God’s Word, but in His great mercy and compassion, rather than demand blind faith, he revealed himself in Jesus. For that he deserves our worship and trust. Because all of this could be explained as “He’s God, you’re not. He can do what he wants, so shut your trap.” But God isn’t like the parents in Matilda (I’m big, you’re little…). He reveals the mystery of his creative purpose in Christ. 

Side note, John Piper once wrote that the Bible doesn’t teach free will because by definition “free will” says we could choose God if we wanted, which clearly conflicts with what Scripture teaches. Yet there is a “will” in the sense of us being responsible for our own actions. Piper calls this distinction “human responsibility,” which is probably a more accurate term than “free will.” What that means is we are responsible for our own decision to believe on Christ or reject him, even if TECHNICALLY that is an elective decision on God’s part. But remember, the alternative is that salvation would depend on human will, which is a scary uncertainty. Only God’s elective purpose is a lock (book it!). From our perspective, we are making choices, yet Romans 9 paints a much deeper picture of a sovereign God. But I would say there is somehow a perfect marriage between our conscious choices and God’s divine purpose. Just don’t ask me to illustrate it on paper. See how we can go in circles on this?

If we are so focused on trying to work out the mind of God and the role of free will in the cosmic process, we’ll miss the important truth of this passage: 

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

verses 22-24

Here’s the truth. Humanity screwed up. God created us for perfect communion with him with the one condition to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But we did it anyway and thus sinned - not because of the action in of it self, but because we didn’t trust God. So that was our one shot and we blew it. Yet in God’s mercy to show the greatness and glory of who He is, he reverses the curse by becoming the curse: “For our sake he made him to be sin (became the curse) who knew no sin (Jesus is God), so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (vessels of mercy!). It’s no easy task, and only God could do it himself. 

The point of Romans 9 is to show God’s great mercy toward us and how if we surrender to Christ, glory awaits us. 

So rather than get in a theological pendulum, we have to understand our role in all of this and approach it from our perspective. It’s important to have a solid theological understanding of God, but primarily we are to respond to the revelation of Christ with obedient faith. 

Our role is the created being. And in Christ, we are a re-created being. From our perspective, we don’t know who are the “vessels of wrath” and who are the “vessels of mercy.” So regardless of where you fall on the predestination issue, everyone can agree we don’t have the full picture. And this is important because God commands his elect to go into the world and preach the gospel to ALL creation, indiscriminately, without bias. 

We don’t know WHO is elect, we only know our task is to preach to all, and

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Mark 16:16

Just as Adam and Eve didn’t know WHY they would surely die if they ate of the tree, we too don’t know WHO will eat of Christ and surely live. In fact, we will probably be surprised who does and who doesn’t. “Trust and obey” as the song goes “for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.” It’s not blind trust and obedience, it’s trust that has seen the LIGHT and obeys the light rather than obeying the darkness. This is a gift of God to us. 

I would argue that holding to the theology that God creates vessels of mercy and wrath takes the re-creative burden off our shoulders to be “potters” of people’s salvation. This is the best motivation to go into the world to make disciples because it doesn’t depend on us. What’s there to fear? It’s all a work of God. And it allows us to love people sacrificially, bearing in patience the “vessels of wrath,” as God has done. This is why God says to “love your enemies” and 

Romans 12:19-21

never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend. This is what Christ did, destroying the dividing wall of hostility. People aren’t our enemy, but the sin that manifests itself in the flesh (Satan lured us by our own fleshly desires, see James). So we endure and we never avenge, but turn the other cheek. This frees us up to love people without condition and shine the light of the gospel in the world. We plant, we water, but God gives the growth. 

Kind of like carrots. See, carrot seeds are very tiny. You plant a bunch of them and you wait to see which ones sprout, and which ones grow. You can’t really tell by looking at the seeds which ones will turn into nice long carrots. But all of that is in the DNA of their seed. Sure, soil conditions, and feeding schedule, and weather all have a determining factor in the success of the crop, but assuming all of those are applied equally to a crop of seeds, an interesting dilemma occurs at harvest time. All you can see are the carrot greens sticking out of the ground and maybe a little bit of the top of the carrot. You have no real way of knowing what that carrot is going to look like until you pull it out of the ground. Sometimes you think it’s going to be a nice straight carrot, but it turns out to be a wimpy crooked one with two legs. 

Imagine you are a farm hand, and the farmer says he wants to only keep the nice long straight carrots because they will sell at a market. The immature or disfigured ones can be thrown into the compost or become animal feed. So, being the faithful farm hand that you are, you decide to only pick the good ones. But how can you know? You can’t. You have to pick them all. In the end you have no real control what happens under the soil. You plant, you water, you feed. But God determines how that carrot grows and which ones he decides as worthy of keeping. 

Likewise, God has sent us out to collect the harvest, but we don’t know what’s happening “under the soil.” We only proclaim the gospel by building relationships in hope that God uses us to activate faith in them. Furthermore, the ones that will be “kept” had it in the DNA of their seed long before they were even planted. God created and designed them.

Jeremiah 1:5

before you were in your mother’s womb I knew you.

We have no clue who that is or when I’m the journey of their life that will be activated. But Christ weaves our story into other people’s stories as the means to tell his story of salvation. We only see the after effects. We operate on a linear timeline, but Christ’s salvation is timeless. Read this excerpt from B.H. Carroll’s “An Interpretation of the English Bible”

God isn’t surprised when someone yields to the Spirit. He is sovereign, and he is merciful. His elective purposes prevail so that his glory shines through those who are found and kept in Christ. 

I believe that knowing there are vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy should motivate us to proclaim the glory of Christ to as many people as we can. Also, if you are reading this you may be asking “am I a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy?” Perhaps the Lord has drawn you to read this in order that you would surrender your life to Christ. Perhaps you’ve been a vessel of mercy this whole time and today is the day it is revealed by becoming new in Christ. If you’re worried about being a vessel of wrath, then believe this promise we have through Jesus: 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now here’s a bonus video of me harvesting a massive carrot!